Here are some statistical numbers in relation to Friday’s post regarding Native students in academia.

An excerpt:

In some states with the highest graduation rates, there are disparities in the graduation rates between economic and racial groups. In Iowa, only 74 percent of black students graduate in four years, compared to 91 percent of white students. In North Dakota, only 63 percent of American Indian students graduate, compared to 90 percent of white students.

The data also show that nationwide, American Indian and Alaska Native students graduate at rates far below their peers. Only 67 percent of Native American students graduate in four years, compared to 86 percent of white students, and 88 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander students. Students at Bureau of Indian Education schools also lag behind, with a graduation rate of only 53 percent during the 2011-12 school year, an 8 percentage point drop from the previous year.

When the Oxendines spoke out about the Thanksgiving Day practices of Maria Montessori they hoped to spread awareness about the culturally insensitive practices that were being fostered by the private school in San Diego, Calif. What they didn’t expect was for the school to retaliate against them and sue the Native American family for $25,000 over allegations of defamation.

Here is a thought-provoking article on Native American achievement in academia and its obstacles.

An excerpt from IndianCountryTodayMediaNetwork.com:

Native students need Native approaches in pedagogy. Multicultural curriculum fails to budge education statistics for Native youth under a European-style education system. Our cultural struggle survives in the way we learn. Our low scores are testaments to our defiance against assimilation. If teachers want to create a truly transformative learning experience, teach us culturally and all else will follow. Let us move forward improving how we teach culture but let us never lose our commitment to teaching culturally.

An inspirational article about how the Yurok Tribe is preserving their language throughout Northern California.

An excerpt:

The Yurok Tribe’s extensive campaign to revive the language serves as a model to the many other tribes, some rich with gambling revenues, that are undertaking similar efforts, experts say. No other Native American language is believed to be taught in as many public schools in California as Yurok, a fact that serves to widen the circle of speakers and perhaps to secure the next generation of teachers.

The experience of the Yuroks and other tribes is also redefining what it means to have a living language. A generation ago, linguists predicted that Yurok and many other Native American languages would become extinct around this time with the deaths of tribal members who grew up speaking the languages, the criterion used at the time…